Top Ten International Anti-Corruption Developments For April 2018

By MoFo's FCPA and Global Anti-Corruption Team

In order to provide an overview for busy in-house counsel and compliance professionals, we summarize below some of the most important international anti-corruption developments from the past month, with links to primary resources. This month we ask: Which company received the first declination under the Department of Justice's (DOJ) new FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy? How is the International Monetary Fund (IMF) “stepping up” its efforts to combat corruption? What new remedy has China proposed to recover the proceeds of corruption? The answers to these questions and more are here in our April 2018 Top Ten list.

1. New Jersey-based Data and Analytics Firm Resolves China FCPA Allegations with SEC, Receives First Declination Under DOJ FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy. On April 23, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that Dun & Bradstreet had agreed to pay more than $9 million, including a $2 million civil penalty, to resolve FCPA accounting provision violations stemming from allegedly improper payments made by two of its Chinese subsidiaries to third parties and government officials in order to obtain non-public financial statement information and non-public personal data in violation of Chinese law. According to the administrative cease and desist order, the improper payments were falsely recorded as legitimate business expenses. On the same day, DOJ sent the company a letter stating that the Department had “declined prosecution consistent with the FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy.” Notably, this is the first public declination citing the Policy, which was announced in November 2017 and replaced the FCPA Pilot Program. The letter stated that, despite having concluded that bribery had occurred, DOJ chose to decline based on a number of factors, including the company's (1) identification of the misconduct, (2) prompt voluntary self-disclosure, (3) thorough corporate investigation, (4) full cooperation, (5) enhanced compliance program and internal accounting controls, (6) remediation, which included termination of all employees involved in the misconduct, and (7) disgorgement paid to SEC.

2. Luxembourg-based Telecommunications Company Announces DOJ Declination. On April 24, 2018, Millicom stated that DOJ had informed the company that it was closing its investigation into potential improper payments made on behalf of the company's joint venture in Guatemala. According to the release, Millicom...